Improving Ultrasound

Ultrasound sensing is widely applied in various fields, mostly for biomedical imaging. However, current methods often struggle with weak signals and lack wavelength selectivity. They also struggle to integrate multiple, complementary modalities into single, miniature devices, due to material limitations like broad optical absorption, instability, or the presence of toxic components.

Quantum dots (QDs) embedded in nanocomposites could be used to create novel ultrasound sensors. These QDs offer tuneable and wavelength-selective optical absorption, enabling efficient ultrasound generation at one wavelength while transmitting light for other complementary modalities (like photoacoustic imaging) at different wavelengths through the same miniature device.

This approach leads to miniature, dual-modality devices that provide high sensitivity and broad bandwidth. Such advances are vital for high-resolution biomedical imaging and improved early disease diagnosis by offering richer information from a single probe, enabling applications like real-time image-guided interventions and differentiation of anatomical features. Miniaturisation can also relieve discomfort and pain in e.g., transvaginal ultrasounds.